November 25, 2009

Unusual Tales - Forever And Ever

"Unusual Tales", a series presenting Steve Ditko's comics from 1957 to 1959 that are in the public domain.

"Forever And Ever" from Charlton's STRANGE SUSPENSE STORIES #33 [1957] is a 6-page story by Ditko, and I think anyone even semi-knowledgeable about comic book history will look at the image to the right and think one thing: Will Eisner.

There are a lot of hints of an Eisner influence in Ditko's early work, but I don't think I've ever seen it more clearly than in the art for this story. It's perhaps not a coincidence that elements of the plot in this story would also fit in well with Eisner's Spirit stories. A hobo straight out of Eisner central casting tells the story of a stranger he met on the road, who told an unbelievable story about being 400 years old, as a result of a formula he took as the apprentice of an Italian alchemist centuries ago which granted immortality, but with a curse. A very enjoyable story, definitely a notch above the standard for these tales, with very good art by Ditko, very distinctively his work of the era even with the influences showing through.